About SCAMIT

Shipdeck winch

History

SCAMIT was formed in 1982 with the goal of promoting the study of marine invertebrate taxonomy in Southern California and developing a regionally standardized taxonomy. To accomplish this, SCAMIT provides a regular monthly forum to address problems in taxonomy, organizes taxonomic workshops, and maintains a reference collection and library of taxonomic literature. SCAMIT’s activities contribute to the scientific value of the many surveys of marine benthic invertebrate communities conducted in Southern California by assuring standardized taxonomy and compatibility between various taxonomic data sets.

SCAMIT Activities

Members meet monthly (usually on the second Monday) in various locations around Southern California. Our meetings include taxonomic workshops and/or speakers who lecture on the systematics and related ecology of a particular taxonomic group. Special workshops, by visiting investigators and experts from various institutions and museums, are also an integral part of SCAMIT. Descriptive information and comparative characteristics of species examined during these meetings are summarized in voucher sheets and tables distributed in the SCAMIT Newsletter.

In addition to our standardization program, SCAMIT supports with a grant program member projects to improve the quality of taxonomic data through development and revision of taxonomic keys and publication of new species descriptions. Members interested in applying for a publication grant should read the Taxonomic Publication Support Policy for further information and instructions.

In 1994, SCAMIT developed a comprehensive listing of local marine invertebrates from the infaunal monitoring programs in the Southern California Bight. This Taxonomic Listing of Soft Bottom Macroinvertebrates is periodically updated as knowledge of the marine invertebrate fauna expands.

The 5th Edition of A Taxonomic Listing of Macro- and Megainvertebrates from Infaunal & Epibenthic Monitoring Programs in the Southern California Bight has now been released and is available here for downloading.

The 5th Edition expands on prior editions by the addition of newly reported taxa from publicly owned wastewater treatment works monitoring programs and the Southern California Bight 2003 Regional Monitoring Project (Bight’03). The inclusion of records from Bight’03 expands the list’s coverage to depths of 1000m in nearshore basins and megainvertebrates from trawls to depths of 500m in the Bight. Geographic coverage begins at Point Conception, includes Southern California bays and harbors, six of the eight Channel Islands, and the Mexican coastal shelf south to Bahía Todos Santos to a depth of 1000m.

The 5th Edition reflects the organisms collected from over 17,700 infaunal samples at 1,700+ sites and 4,300+ otter trawls at 650 sites within the habitats covered. There are 2,551 species-level taxa on the list representing 18 phyla, 37 classes, 111 orders, and 526 families. The list has also been emended to reflect nomenclatural changes since the previous edition.

SCAMIT Support

We are an entirely volunteer non-profit organization, with no employees. Costs of newsletter production and distribution, website costs, publication support grants, and stipends for out-of-area guest speakers are virtually our only expenses. Dues from membership partially offset these costs, but we also depend on financial support from outside agencies. Equally important is support of the agencies who allow their officer employees to conduct SCAMIT business as part of their work, and the companies and agencies that allow employee participation at the monthly meetings. Without such support it would be very difficult to find time to conduct the organization’s business. We are also supported by the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History (LACMNH), which provides us the physical space to maintain our voucher specimen and literature collections. As an organization we owe all of the above contributors and supporters a debt of gratitude.

SCAMIT Members

Initially formed by taxonomists associated with Southern California wastewater treatment programs, the SCAMIT membership has diversified over the years. It now also includes consultants, museum scientists, and both students and researchers in the academic realm. Despite our local origins we have members from one coast of the U. S. to the other, and a scattered contingent of international members. Distance prevents most from active meeting participation, but we attempt to include everyone through the newsletter and website.

Alliances

Besides the numerous public agencies with which SCAMIT is involved, we are beginning to explore cooperation with other related organizations. A recent contact is with the Southwest Association of Freshwater Invertebrate Taxonomists (SAFIT). The two organizations have jointly sponsored two taxonomic workshops on fauna of common interest (hydrobiid snails and estuarine crustaceans). We plan to continue that collaborative interaction with other topics in the future.

More Information

If you need any other information concerning SCAMIT please feel free to contact any of the officers:

President: Larry Lovell
Marine Biology Lab, County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County 24501 S. Figueroa St., Carson, CA 90745
310.830.2400 x5613 email: LLovell@lacsd.org
Vice-President: Leslie Harris
Collection Manager, LACM-Allan Hancock Foundation Polychaete Collection, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007
213.763.3234, fax: 213.746.2999 email: lharris@nhm.org
Newsletter Editor: Don Cadien
County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County,
310.830.2400 x5502 email: dcadien@lacsd.org
Treasurer: Cheryl Brantley
Marine Biology Lab, County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, 24501 S. Figueroa St., Carson, CA 90745
310.830.2400 x5605 email: cbrantley@lacsd.org
Secretary: Megan Lilly
Metropolitan Wastewater Department, City of San Diego
619.758.2336 email: mlilly@sandiego.gov
Webmasters:
Dean Pentcheff email: pentcheff@gmail.com
Katja Seltmann email: moon@begoniasociety.org